


It Only Took A Glimpse

by BridgetMcKennitt



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: F/F, First Dates, Post-Canon, Reminiscing, Self-Discovery, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-23 12:36:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19701505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BridgetMcKennitt/pseuds/BridgetMcKennitt
Summary: Asumi loved Go. She wouldn't have practiced for hours upon hours, become an insei, or took the pro exams for years if she didn't love the game. This was her life.





	It Only Took A Glimpse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [akikaze13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/akikaze13/gifts).



Asumi entered her apartment with her keys and a pile of mail in her arms. She closed the door behind her and dropped everything onto her kitchen counter before sorting through her mail.

There was a Go festival upcoming next week and the institute was going to pay her to play teaching matches with the festival goers. Playing teaching matches were fun, so she didn't mind doing that, but it wasn't like she got paid much to do them.

Asumi sighed. She became a Go pro a few years ago and was currently a 2-dan, but she knew she was never going to have Touya's talent and become a titled pro. Which meant that, if she wanted to pay her rent, she needed to do extra work like the festival.

Then Asumi found another envelope from the Go Institute. She opened it and read the letter. It was a request to become a private tutor for someone named Fujisaki Akari. For some reason, the name sounded familiar, but Asumi didn't know where from. Still, she liked teaching and she could use the money. She checked off a yes response on the letter so she could drop it off at the institute later that day.

When she sorted through the rest of her mail, Asumi stretched her arms over her head as she walked into the kitchen for a snack. She opened up a bag of shrimp chips and began munching on them. Asumi loved Go. She wouldn't have practiced for hours upon hours, become an insei, or took the pro exams for years if she didn't love the game. This was her life.

And yet there was something missing that Asumi just couldn't put her finger on. As fantastic as a title would be, that wasn't her goal in life. There was something else out there for her to leave her mark on. She felt... chafed in a way, like she needed to outgrow her own skin, but how?

Asumi took a bite of another shrimp chip. Maybe she needed to talk it over with one of her friends. Her close friends were all into Go and they started all around the same time, so maybe she wasn't the only one feeling this way. She grabbed her phone and dialed Isumi's number.

Isumi answered on the second ring with a hello. "Hey, Nase. What's up?"

"Nothing much. I just got home. What are you up to?"

"Waya and Shindou are coming over to my place to play Go. Want to come? Shindou's bringing some of the kifu from Touya's father played while he was in Korea."

Asumi's interest was peaked. Even though Touya Kouyou had retired from his Japanese Go titles years ago, that didn't mean he still wasn't a mover and shaker within the Go world. Going over his kifu would be illuminating and Asumi was thankful that Shindou was such good friends with Touya Akira, so they could have access to kifu not available to the public.

"That sounds great, Isumi. Thank you. I'll be there in a bit."

They said their goodbyes and Asumi ended the call. Isumi's place wasn't too far away from hers, so she'd be able to get there in no time at all. She threw away her empty bag and grabbed her keys before leaving her apartment.

Asumi made it to Isumi's apartment and, when he let her in, Waya was already there with a soda in his hand.

"Hey, Nase! Shindou isn't here yet with the kifu." He took a drink from his soda can. "Man, what I wouldn't give to travel and play Go with some international players. Just think of how it'd enhance my game."

Isumi chuckled. "I keep telling you to come to China with me, but you keep refusing."

Waya scowled as Asumi hid her smile behind a hand. "And have you and your friends make Le Ping jokes at me the entire time? No thanks."

It was a running joke in their group of friends, though maybe Waya did have a point. Not about Le Ping, but about playing international players. When Isumi went to China, he returned to pass the next pro exam with ease. He frequently went back to visit his friends there to hone his skills. Touya traveled outside of Japan all the time with his father with Shindou tagging along from time to time and they were both titled players. What if she was stuck in a rut because she hadn't expanded herself by playing against international players and learning from them?

"Come on, Nase. Let's play a game before Shindou arrives," Waya said as he sat down in front of the goban. "Speed Go okay?"

She wasn't that great at Speed Go, but she agreed. How was she going to grow if she couldn't learn from her defeats? "Let's do it."

She didn't win all of her games against Waya, but it was a lot of fun and she managed to win a few. Just as they were finishing, Shindou arrived with the kifu. Except that wasn't all Shindou brought with him.

"I hope no one minds I brought my friend with me. Her interest in Go comes and goes like a cycle. Everyone, meet Fujisaki Akari. Akari, meet everyone."

"Shindou!" His friend nudged Shindou in the shoulder before she bowed at everyone.

Asumi was in the middle of bowing when she realized that she knew that name. Fujisaki Akari. That was the person the institute wanted her to tutor. But if she was already friends with Shindou, then why was she asking for someone to teach her Go? There had to be a story there.

Asumi waited until the crowd around Fujisaki thinned before she walked up to her. "Hello, Fujisaki."

"Hello." Fujisaki smiled at her and Asumi's heart fluttered at the sight of it. She couldn't help but smile back.

"We actually know each other. I mean, we _will_ know each other. I'm going to be your Go tutor. My name is Nase Asumi."

"I didn't realize. It's a pleasure to meet you, Nase."

"A pleasure to meet you as well." Asumi glanced at Shindou deep in a conversation with Isumi before she returned her gaze to Fujisaki. "If I may ask, if you're friends with Shindou, why did you request a tutor from the institute?"

Fujisaki laughed. "That's easy. I've known Shindou for years and while he's tried to teach me Go from time to time, it has never been pretty. I like Go, not to the extent that everyone here does, and I think it's time I truly learn the game, but from someone else."

She nodded as she listened to Fujisaki. That made sense. "Well, I appreciate the opportunity you've given me. I promise I'll be patient in teaching you the game. Perhaps you'll even beat Shindou in a game or two!"

Fujisaki's eyes lit up as she grasped Asumi's hands between hers. "That sounds lovely, though pretty ambitious. I'm sure even the current insei would be able to beat me after tutelage, but that's okay. I want to be able to have some ability to fight back."

"I'll give you all the tools you'll need. You can count on that."

As they turned their attention to the kifu Shindou brought, they were more towards the back of the group. Asumi noticed that Fujisaki smelled nice. Maybe it was because she was normally around the boys that she noticed her scent. Either way she liked it. It took her awhile to realize that, while the kifu was fascinating, she was more intrigued by Fujisaki instead and she wasn't sure why. There wasn't anything unusual about her. She seemed like a normal, friendly girl.

Asumi kept her head down as she was deep in her thoughts. This wasn't the time to be thinking that Shindou's friend was cute, especially since she was supposed to tutor her in Go. Then she glanced at Fujisaki and almost groaned. What was she going to do?

*

A few days later, Fujisaki scheduled a tutoring session. Since it was a nice day out, Asumi suggested they meet at the park. Fujisaki agreed.

Asumi couldn't help but take additional time to dress herself in a cute outfit. It was just a tutoring session, but she wanted to look good for Fujisaki. "You're being ridiculous," she muttered to herself. "You don't even know her. Not to mention you don't even know if she likes girls."

Still, she wanted to make a good impression on Fujisaki. Perhaps if she was able to cultivate a deep love of Go within her, Fujisaki would stick around. She picked up her bag with everything she needed to tutor and left her place.

It didn't take long to reach the park and Asumi found an empty table under the shade of some trees. It was perfect and Asumi sat down, setting up the goban. She took a deep breath as she smoothed out her skirt. There was no reason to be nervous since she had already met Fujisaki. Though that was the reason, wasn't it? Asumi liked her and now she didn't know what to do with her feelings.

Fujisaki soon arrived and Asumi waved her arm to catch her attention. Fujisaki half jogged towards her as she sat down. "Sorry if I kept you waiting."

"Oh, I wasn't waiting long at all." Asumi gestured towards the goban. "I want us to play so I can see your strength. Then we can go from there."

"That sounds good. I promise to try my best." Fujisaki clapped her hands together.

The game didn't take long, but Asumi analyzed every move Fujisaki made. She wasn't quite a novice and there was some potential there. Asumi could work with this. They began clearing away the stones.

"Not too bad. We can work on mapping out territories. Go ahead and make your first move again."

The entire tutoring session took an hour, but the time seemed to fly for Asumi. Fujisaki was an excellent student and took Asumi's words to heart. She felt fortunate that Shindou wasn't Fujisaki's tutor so they could have the opportunity to have more time together.

Asumi didn't want Fujisaki to leave, not just yet, and an idea came to mind.

"Fujisaki, if you don't mind, would you like to get ice cream with me?"

Asumi meant it as a friendly thing, but the way Fujisaki's eyes widened, perhaps she took it as a little more friendlier than Asumi intended. She was about to take back the words when Fujisaki smiled bright.

"I was hoping you'd ask me out. Shindou told me I was being foolish since he'd never seen you date before, but he never pays attention to anything that's not Go related." Fujisaki reached across the table to touch Asumi's hands. Asumi noticed how warm and soft they were. "Unless I'm mistaken?"

Asumi shook her head. Her cheeks were warm and she wondered how red she had gotten. "You're not mistaken at all."

They got up and began walking out of the park. It was nice walking side by side with Fujisaki. The ice cream parlor was only a few blocks away and Asumi took that time to ask Fujisaki questions about herself. Fujisaki was in university and she wanted to become a teacher one day. She liked Go and played it for fun, but that was as far as she wanted to go with it.

"I remember when Shindou was studying to become an insei. I thought he was so good back then. He wanted to be a pro and I knew he was going to accomplish that goal. I just wanted to play and learn about Shindou's passion. I assume Go is your passion as well?"

Asumi nodded. "I've worked hard to make it through the insei ranks and then to become a pro. Though now I feel like I'm in a rut."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

They reached the ice cream parlor and waited in line to order. "I'm nowhere near skilled enough to try and go after a title. I'm still working up the dan ranks, but it's hard. I don't know what to do next in order to grow."

Fujisaki made a noise of understanding. "It took me awhile to figure out that I wanted to be a teacher. Just getting into high school, and then university took all of my strength and ability. But once I was there, I didn't know what was coming next." She let out a small chuckle. "Fortunately, I had a wonderful teacher who inspired me to follow in her footsteps. Maybe that someone will come into your life soon enough and inspire you, too."

"That sounds lovely. I hope so."

Soon it was their turn to order and Asumi offered to pay for both of their ice creams.

"Are you certain?" Fujisaki asked.

"I insist. I invited you here. Go ahead and order first." While Fujisaki was ordering, Asumi looked up at the menu. She had been to this parlor once before and liked the different flavors they had to offer. Fujisaki ordered a strawberry cone while she ordered a double chocolate mint cone. She paid for their cones and they sat down at a table just outside of the parlor to eat.

As she worked through her ice cream across from Fujisaki, Asumi wondered if perhaps her rut wasn't related to Go at all, but her personal life instead. It was true that she hadn't dated before, so focused on becoming a pro, but that didn't mean she wanted to be alone.

Asumi decided to be bold and she slid her leg against Fujisaki. Fujisaki was in the middle of licking her ice cream when it happened and her eyes widened. "Oh!" she said as she blushed. "I'm so happy we're on a date."

"Me too." Asumi felt warm and fuzzy in the presence of Fujisaki. "There's a Go festival next week and I'm going to be playing teaching matches. Would you like to accompany me to it?"

"Of course, but only if we go to the ice skating ring after this. I've been meaning to do that for awhile and it'd be nice to go with you."

"I'd love to." Asumi hadn't been ice skating in a long time.

Fujisaki glanced around before she darted forward to kiss Asumi's cheek. It was over relatively quick, but Asumi felt flushed with warmth all over. The way she was feeling about Fujisaki was the same way she felt about playing Go. She reached for Fujisaki's hand under the table and was thrilled when their fingers entangled together.

Go was her life, but Asumi couldn't wait to discover this new path with Fujisaki.


End file.
